Rilke's Return: The Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Talks To Louise Welsh...
- Alistair Braidwood
- Feb 3
- 2 min read
For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer, and regular guest over the years, Louise Welsh to talk about her latest Rilke novel The Cut Up, which is published with Canongate Books.
Louise begins with a brief introduction to the central character of Rilke, before talking about the first novel in which he featured, Louise's celebrated 2002 debut The Cutting Room, a book which has had a notable influence on a new generation of writers.
The two then discuss The Cut Up (avoiding spoilers) and the wider cast of characters involved, the world of antiques against which the novel is set, writing violence, the importance of detail, moral ambiguity, representing the senses, the joys of writing about Glasgow, and more.
They then go on to talk about Louise's work alongside Jude Barber with The Empire Cafe and the accompanying podcast Who Owns The Clyde?, with Louise hinting at plans for events to run alongside the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
It's always a pleasure to talk with Louise, especially about Rilke, but this conversation offers a much wider discussion. We hope you get the same enjoyment from listening as we did recording it.
If you aren’t yet a subscriber to the Scots Whay Hae! podcast you can do so, (or simply listen) at iTunes, on Podbean, with Spotify, on MixCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Or, if you want it right here, right now, you can listen on SoundCloud…
..or on YouTube…
Click here to learn more about Louise Welsh and buy her books Click here to learn more about The Cut Up Click here to learn more about Canongate Books
In the meantime you can always check out our back catalogue of over 400 interviews with some of the most interesting names in Scottish culture.
Been trying out Nano Banana for AI image generation lately. You just describe what you want in plain text and it generates something — built on Gemini so the quality is decent. Handles a range of styles from realistic to anime. Useful for quick concept visuals without needing to set up anything locally.